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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEnergy Board - Minutes - 12/10/2020 ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING December 10, 2020 – 5:30 pm Remote – Zoom Meeting ROLL CALL Board Members Present: Amanda Shores. Jeremy Giovando, Bill Becker, Dan Gould, Alan Braslau, Marge Moore, Steve Tenbrink, Sue McFaddin, John Fassler Board Members Absent: OTHERS PRESENT Staff Members Present: John Phelan, Christie Fredrickson, Tim McCollough, Cyril Vidergar, Rhonda Gatzke, Leland Keller, Robert Tucker (SEPA), Platte River Power Authority: Paul Davis, Trista Fugate, Alyssa Clemsen Roberts Members of the Public: Rick Coen, Nick Michell MEETING CALLED TO ORDER Chairperson Shores called the meeting to order at 5:31 pm PUBLIC COMMENT None. APPROVAL OF MINUTES In preparation for the meeting, board members submitted amendments via email for the November 12, 2020 minutes. The minutes were approved as amended. ANNOUNCEMENTS & AGENDA CHANGES The Energy Board will continue to meet remotely, pursuant to Ordinance No. 79, 2020. STAFF REPORTS Follow Up: Riverside Community Solar Acquisition John Phelan, Energy Services Senior Manager Mr. Phelan updated the Board regarding the concerns expressed about the Riverside Community Solar Acquisition. Staff has confirmed with the City’s Security and Risk Management Team that the City will be able to insure the entire project with a comprehensive insurance policy. The policy will cover both the customer owned panels as well as the balance of the system and will be paid for out of the O&M fund. The policy is not active yet, but staff is working on the final numbers to put the policy in place. So far, over 95% of existing customers have signed the new agreement and staff is looking to schedule a virtual town-hall type meeting once the transition is complete. L&P and Energy Services Forward-Looking Operations Update John Phelan, Energy Services Senior Manager Tim McCollough, Deputy Director, Utilities Light & Power ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING Mr. McCollough explained City Council supported the 3% rate increase in 2021. The 2021 budget is reduced but focuses on core operations, maintaining reliability, maintaining reserves, supporting development (both new and redevelopment), asset investments and renewals (such as LED streetlight conversions), improved levels of service, and communication & technology enhancements. In the first half of 2021, Light and Power is prioritizing the deployment and success of Connexion, updating the Capital Improvement Plan, continued overhead to underground conversion progress, and completing the Distributed Energy Resources (DER) Strategy. Later, the focus will shift to refining the 2022 budget, the completion of the remodel at the Utilities Service Center (already underway), the Phase 1 construction the joint training field with Poudre Fire Authority, the design and construction of the Drake & Dixon automated tie circuit, and Integrated Voice Recorder (IVR) enhancements for customer outage calls. Chairperson Shores asked what the communications enhancements will encompass. Mr. McCollough said the enhancements include a combination of communication updates, including text messaging and IVR technology. The new system will be able to recognize customers calling in from a phone number registered to a Fort Collins Utility account and immediately prompt the caller that there is a known outage in their area. If there isn’t a known outage, the customer will be able to report it by pressing a number and ending the call. Board member Fassler said it would be nice to be able to report things online or through text, because he and many others today strongly dislike making phone calls. Mr. McCollough said he would hope the Utility can get to a point in technology where the City can call/communicate out before a customer would need to call in. In Energy Services there was a 5% 2021 budget reduction from 2020, but staff believes they can maintain levels of service with a focused approach similar to L&Ps. There were no staffing changes, and 2022 budget planning will begin soon. Staff will continue to focus on policy objectives, pending the adoption of Our Climate Future, and the program mix will largely remain the same (Efficiency Works Business, Epic Homes, Building Energy and Water Scoring, Home Energy Reports, Peak Partners, Solar, etc.). Key Projects include OCF, Epic Homes Rental participation, Smart Energy Program Application (APPA Program), DER Strategic Plan, Peak Partners switch replacements, virtual net metering, electrification roadmap, energy & building code updates, Green Energy program rebranding, and updating the Energy Services Results Dashboard. DER STRATEGIC PLANNING UPDATE John Phelan, Energy Services Senior Manager Tim McCollough, Deputy Director, Utilities Light & Power Robert Tucker, SEPA Paul Davis, Platte River Power Authority The DER Strategy Committee is a partnership with all four owner-communities (Estes Park, Fort Collins, Longmont, Loveland) and Platte River, represented with two members each, and a partner consultant (SEPA - Smart Electric Power Alliance). SEPA is a member-based and not for profit organization who represent over 700 utilities and about 70% of the electricity sold in the US. They offer several services aside from facilitating DER working groups, to include education, research, and advisory. In this project, SEPA is providing facilitation and guidance, research and industry knowledge, and stakeholder engagement. DERs are physical or virtual energy devices or systems that can be deployed on the electric distribution ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING system or on customer premises that can be used to provide value to all customers through electric system optimization and/or individual customer benefits. The committee is looking across all current known DERs and building a framework that will allow the communities to evaluate future DERs as they come on the market. This project was motivated by owner community and customer interest, and the need to be able to manage DERs from multiple utility’s perspectives. Since the owner communities have all been historically distribution-only utilities, they have all viewed DERs differently than Platte River does as a generation and transmission entity. The goal going into the collaborative effort was to come out of it with a shared vision for DER integration, along with a set of guiding principles and approaches the communities and Platte River can use to integrate DER through coordinated evaluation, planning, operations, and customer programs. The committee will develop an evaluation framework that considers benefits and costs of DER across the electric system. They will also work on a coordinated approach to securing customer and system data to ensure privacy and proprietary information is protected. The project initially kicked off in September 2019 but was put on hold in March 2020 with the news and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff determined the work the committee is doing is important, so the project was resumed in June with committee members working on direction setting and gathering data; including drafting the vision and guiding principles, conducting one-on-one interviews with SEPA, and the formation of sub-committees. The committee is currently working on the gap assessment, conducting current and future state analyses to identify potential gaps and solutions. Mr. McCollough explained the committee has drafts of both the Strategy Vision and the Guiding Principles, and they are open to feedback from the Energy Board. The draft DER Strategy Vision is: “A joint DER strategy will promote collaboration and coordination between the owner communities and Platte River with the objective of providing value to all customers.” The draft DER Strategy Guiding Principles are: 1. Maintain system reliability and utility financial sustainability while enhancing environmental responsibility and customer experience. 2. Implement safety practices in all facets of DER planning, operations and customer programs to protect the public, utility employees, contractors and customers. 3. Maintain physical and cyber security of grid assets and privacy of customer data. 4. Facilitate deployment of DERs across all customer groups in a way that provides benefits to those customers and the electrical system. 5. Provide consistency, transparency and flexibility among Platte River and the owner communities on DER evaluation and implementation. 6. Employ common processes, industry best practices and innovation for the integration of DER technologies onto the grid. Board member Becker commented that it would be good to explain the “why” in the strategy vision for the public or layperson, and a holistic and systemic explanation of the value of DERs. Mr. Davis said a previous version of the statement was more detailed, but a survey relayed feedback saying that the statement was too detailed with too much information, so the committee tried to distill it down a little bit to make it easier to absorb. Mr. Davis added perhaps the committee needs to meet somewhere in the middle between this version and the previous. Board members wondered if there was a concrete goal that should be expressed. Mr. McCollough said the committee’s objective was never to create a project, but to create a general framework that could be applied in all situations. The first public engagement project was completed in the fall of 2020; the email included a survey with ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING the DER strategy microsite (www.prpa.org/der). The survey questions focused on the participant’s familiarity with different types of DER, solicited feedback on the vision and guiding principle, and asked the relative importance of goals for DER strategy (e.g., low bills, equitable costs and services, environment, reliability). The committee anticipates three more public engagement opportunities by the end of this project. Vice Chairperson Giovando wondered if the framework is built to be modified and tailored for each community, or is it intended to be shared. Mr. McCollough said the framework is intended to be shared and collaborative, because DER strategy only functions if all four communities and Platte River work together. Board member Moore wondered what barriers or challenges the committee has encountered while developing the framework. Mr. McCollough said each community is starting from a different point, so working to identify the gaps in things such as maturity or funding, and the function and scale of those gaps. Mr. Davis noted that the driver is to match intermittent resources to loads; there is a need to identify flexible loads from the wholesale system level all the way down to the customer level, while also providing value to the distribution system, or at the very least not causing harm. Board member Becker said that comment from Mr. Davis is the essence of why DER matters, and he hopes it will be integrated into the Strategy Vision. Mr. McCollough agreed, DER strategy is connected to the overall goal of 100% non- carbon energy by 2030, and DER is one of the things that needs to mature in order to achieve that outcome. Chairperson Shores noted there was a recent article in the Coloradoan about shutting down Platte River’s Rawhide Unit 1 a year earlier than planned after a preliminary decision from the Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC), and she wondered what that means for Platte River and customer rates. Ms. Fugate commented the AQCC voted 5-2 on a preliminary final decision, but it does not equate to a final action on this item—and won’t until AQCC’s December 16-18 meeting. In June, Platte River announced the closure of Rawhide Unit 1 by December 31, 2029, which was incorporated into the rule-making process for the Regional Haze Program that was presented at the November AQCC meeting. The AQCC decided to accept an alternate proposal from the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) and Sierra Club as opposed to going with the staff recommendation; the alternate proposal calls for closing three coal-fired plants, including Rawhide Unit 1, by December 31, 2028. Platte River will know more after the AQCC takes final action during its December meeting. Chairperson Shores wondered if Platte River regularly engages with Sierra Club, or what could Platte River have done to make sure the Sierra Club was better aligned with Platte River. Ms. Fugate clarified that Platte River did know about the alternate proposal, but staff didn’t have sufficient time to review and complete their own in-depth analysis and modeling based on the assumptions NPCA/Sierra Club had used. Ms. Fugate added that this decision would be unprecedented should it pass. Ms. Clemsen Roberts added that Platte River has been a good partner, but continually pulling the rug out from under utilities and their planning groups is not helpful. She does not believe Platte River could have anticipated this because Platte River’s attorneys, as well as others they have engaged with, have said the decision is without legal precedent and the AQCC does do not have the authority for this decision. Mr. McCollough added there are unintended consequences with a premature closure like this. Base sources take years of planning, and if utilities are put in a position to retire coal units early it forces them into a rushed position, which could mean building gas resources as it may be the only viable option on short notice. Chairperson Shores said she wants to see that Utilities and Platte River are actively reaching out to ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING engage with special interest groups and stakeholders to ensure the conversation is happening. Ms. Fugate said the Regional Haze Program effort is led by CDPHE (Colorado Department of Health and Environment), and there were many stakeholder outreach opportunities that both Platte River and NCPA/Sierra Club participated in. OUR CLIMATE FUTURE WORK SESSION DEBRIEF John Phelan, Energy Services Senior Manager Staff presented the Our Climate Future 15 Big Moves to City Council and received broad support. Council is eager to hear more on specific strategies and tactics (which staff was not presenting that night). Council is highly anticipating the next OCF presentation at their February 9, 2021 meeting, where staff will present the framework for the how the cycle and cadence of Climate Action, Energy, and Waste Planning will be calibrated with the community on two-year basis, as well as a specific set of tactical next moves to take place over the next few years. Vice Chairperson Giovando asked if combining the three plans under the OCF umbrella has resulted in delayed progress. Mr. Phelan said it’s hard to tell if it is taking longer since the combination largely happened in tandem with the pandemic; however, the process of having the community lead the discussion, defining the big moves, as well as ensuring staff is reaching historically underrepresented communities definitely takes longer. It has taught staff that they need to go at the pace the community is able to work in. DRAFT 2020 ENERGY BOARD ANNUAL REPORT Board members discussed wanting to reorganize the report in a new way that better highlights how the presentations they received and actions they took as a Board relate to the Energy Board’s objectives. Ms. Fredrickson and Mr. Phelan will work together to reorganize the report and distribute it back to the Board for feedback ahead of their January meeting. OFFICER ELECTIONS Chairperson Shores reviewed some of the responsibilities of the Chair role. Board members discussed trying to do a better job distributing responsibilities due to everyone’s lack of time to commit to external responsibilities at this time. Board member McFaddin nominated Board member Becker for role of Chair. Chairperson Shores said Board member Moore would be a great in a leadership role as well. Board member Braslau moved to nominate Bill Becker as the new Chairperson and Marge Moore as the new Vice Chairperson. Board member McFaddin seconded the motion. Discussion: Nominees for the Chair and Vice Chairperson roles consented. There are no further nominations. Nominations are now closed. Vote on the motion: It passed unanimously, 9-0. ENERGY BOARD REGULAR MEETING Board members expressed gratitude to Board members Shores and Giovando for all their efforts this past year and congratulated the new Chair and Vice Chairperson. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Board member McFaddin noted that Platte River rebated a million dollars back to the communities, $486,000 of which went to the City of Fort Collins (based on the City’s pro rata share). Ms. McFaddin wondered what fund the money will go into or how it will be distributed. Mr. McCollough explained Platte River’s resolution was written to leave it up to the governing body of the municipalities to determine, so a committee of staff members who have been working on recovery funding (such as CARES funding) will make a recommendation to City Council, and Council will have the ultimate decision where to apply the funding. FUTURE AGENDA REVIEW 2021 Planning is underway. In January, the Board will spend time deciding on the content they would like to see, including how to better leverage and utilize their work sessions. Staff who regularly present to the Board have been contacted and will be dropping their topics in to the Board’s planning calendar ahead of the January meeting, which will help the Board shape the remainder of the year. Board member McFaddin may present Utility Rate Principles, along with staff support, at the Board’s February work session. There is an OCF Super Issues meeting scheduled for January 11. ADJOURNMENT The Energy Board adjourned at 8:03